For the relations of the US with Samoa up to 1900 see SAMOA (to be added)
In 1900 the Samoa archipelago was divided into a German and an US zone.
Although the area was placed under the authority of the Navy and a naval base
was immediately established on the island of Tutuila, the US didn't however
automatically annexe the islands which had been assigned to them. They ruled
them as a de facto US territory until 1929, when US Congress accepted, with
retroactive effect to 1904 :
- the cession of the Islands of Tutuila and Aunu'u made by their chiefs (the
Matai of Aitulagi, Fofo, Sua and Vaifanua) in 1900.
- the cession of the Manu'a Islands (Manu'a, Ofu, Ta'u, etc) by their ruler,
the Tui Manu'a in 1904. (1)
In 1925 Swains Island also became part of American Samoa.
(1) After the cession Tui Manu'a Elisara continued to rule the island
until his death in 1909. A certain Chris Young then seems to have
tried to assume the title of Tui Manu'a, but he was not recognized
as such by the US administration.
After this only local Matai titles continued to be used on all the
islands. These Matai titles were held by the elected heads of the
extended families. They were responsible for family genealogy, for
justice, for land managment, etc.
They ruled their communtity according to their own customary laws
as long as these didn't interfere with US laws.
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U.S. CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
(not all military ranks could be traced)
Commandants of the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila
1900 - 1901 Cmdr. Benjamin Franklin Tilley 1848 - 1907
1901 - 1902 Capt. Uriel Sabree 1848 - 1922
1902 - 1903 LtCmdr. Henry Minett* 1857 - 1952
1903 - 1905 Edmund Beardsley Underwood
Naval Governors of the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila
1905 - 1908 Cmdr. Charles Brainard Taylor Moore 1853 - 1923
1908 - 1910 Capt. John Frederick Parker
1910 - 1911 Cmdr. William Michael Crose 1867 -
Naval Governors of American Samoa
1911 - 1913 Cmdr. William Michael Crose s.a.
1913 Nathan Woodworth Post* 1881 - 1938
1913 - 1914 Clark Daniel Stearns 1870 -
1914 Nathan Woodworth Post* (2x)
1914 - 1915 Charles Armijo Woodruff* 1884 -
1915 - 1919 John Martin Poyer 1861 - 1922
1919 - 1920 Warren Jay Terhune 1869 - 1920
1920 - 1922 Capt. Waldo Evans 1869 - 1936
1922 - 1923 Edwin Taylor Pollock 1870 - 1943
1923 - 1925 Edward Stanley Kellogg 1870 - 1948
1925 - 1927 Capt. Henry Francis Bryan 1865 - 1944
1927 - 1929 Capt. Stephen Victor Graham 1874 -
1929 - 1931 Gatewood Sanders Lincoln 1875 - 1957
1931 James Sutherland Spore* 1885 - 1937
1931 LtCmdr. Arthur Tenney Emerson*
1931 - 1932 Gatewood Sanders Lincoln (2x)
1932 - 1934 Capt. George Bertram Landenberger 1879 - 1936
1934 LtCmdr. Thomas Calloway Latimore* 1890 - 1942
1934 - 1936 Capt. Otto Carl Dowling 1887 - 1946
1936 LtCmdr. Thomas Benjamin Fitzpatrick* 1896 - 1974
1936 - 1938 Capt. MacGillivray Milne 1882 - 1959
1938 - 1940 Edward William Hanson 1889 -
1940 Jesse Rink Wallace* 1... - 1899
1940 - 1942 Capt. Laurence Wild 1890 - 1971
1942 - 1944 John Gould Moyer 1893 - 1976
1944 - 1945 Capt. Allen Hobbes 1899 - 1960
1945 Capt. Ralph Waldo Hungerford 1896 - 1977
From 1856 to 1925 Swains Island (so named after the whaler who first spotted
it ca 1840 - indig. name : Olosenga) was a semi-independent propriety of the
US Jennings family, whose first head, Eli Hutchinson Jennings (1814 - 1878),
had settled there to produce and export copra. (1)
(1) Although not formally annexed to the US in this period, the island
was nevertheless considered as being within the US zone of influence
and an attempt of the local British administrator to include it into
the Gilbert Islands Protectorate in 1909 was not sanctioned by the
British authorities, who recognized US sovereignity over the area.
In this period US contacts with the island were not handled by the
the naval governors of American Samoa, but by the US Consuls in
Apia (West Samoa)
1897 - 1901 Luther Wood Osborn
1901 - 1908 G. Heimrod
1908 - 1917 Mason Mitchell
1917 - 1920 none (?)
1920 - 19.. Quincy F. Roberts
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HEADS OF SWAINS ISLAND
Titleholders
1856 - 1878 Eli Hutchinson Jennings (I) s.a.
1878 - 18.. Mere°(Maria, Malie), widow 1... - 1891
18.. - 1920 Eli Hutchinson Jennings (II) Jr.
"King Jennings", son 1863 - 1920
1920 - 19.. Alexander Hutchinson Jennings, son,
together with his sister Ann Eliza
Carruthers-Jennings° until 1925 1897 -
In 1925, partly at the request of its titleholder, Swains Island was annexed
to American Samoa. (2)
(2) Since 1906 there had been frequent quarrels about the ownership of
the island between the different members of the family and both Eli
Hutchinson and Alexander Hutchinson saw their titles contested.
As Swains Island legally was a "terra nullius", there however was no
court empowered to decide about their rights.
After the annexation Alexander Hutchinson was confirmed as sole owner
of island, which his descendant(s) still possess under the authority
of a government representative.
(The Jennings Heads were/are not considered as traditional Matai)
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